The Prince of Goalkeepers: Jimmy Cowan played 25 times for Scotland

One man – goalkeeper Jimmy Cowan – accounts for half that total, playing 25 times for Scotland between 1948 and 1952.

Since his final international appearance against Sweden, in Stockholm, in May 1952, no Morton player has played for Scotland.

Cowan is widely regarded as the finest goalkeeper ever to represent Scotland.

Born in June 1926, he was only 21, and had played just 25 games for Morton, when he made his international debut in a 2-0 win against Belgium at Hampden Park in April 1948.

Just a week earlier, he had played for Morton in two epic Scottish Cup Final matches against Rangers also at Hampden, each going to extra-time, watched by 265,000 spectators.

The first game finished 1-1. The midweek replay was goalless until very late, the winning Rangers’ goal coming in the gathering gloom – no floodlights in those days.

Cowan’s clean-sheet on his international debut was the first of eight in a Scotland goalie’s jersey (incidentally, he always wore the blue and white hoops of Morton beneath it). His record of 23 goals conceded in 25 internationals is remarkable.

Signing for Morton in May 1944, after being freed by Saint Mirren, the teenage Cowan played a few unofficial war-time matches when his military service permitted.

His official debut came in January 1947 whilst on leave, in a Division A game at Hibernian’s Easter Road, making the headlines by saving penalties from TWO of the Edinburgh club’s ‘famous five’ forwards, Eddie Turnbull and Gordon Smith; Cowan’s save from Smith came in the 90th minute, preserving a 1-1 draw for Morton.

The evening papers named regular goalie Archie McFeat as the hero, but that was soon rectified the following day.

In November 1947, Jimmy left the army and returned to Morton; within six months he was Scotland’s No.1 and remained so for the next four years.

Perhaps his most memorable performance came at Wembley against England in April 1949, in a Home International decider which became known as ‘Cowan’s Match’. It was his fifth ‘cap’.

(Image: Niall McGilp)

For the first 20 minutes, England dominated, with Jimmy making at least half a dozen fantastic saves during this onslaught.

In the words of a football annual of the time: “What a goalkeeper Jimmy Cowan was! His saving of all manner of shots was uncanny. He played like a master, diving to shots, cutting out dangerous crosses. No Scottish goalkeeper has put on such a masterly exhibition. No other is likely to do so.”

Scotland survived this pressure and went on to secure a famous 3-1 victory. At the final whistle, Cowan was carried from the pitch by celebrating Scotland fans.

In a poignant postscript to the game, it emerged that Jimmy’s mother was seriously ill in hospital but she had insisted that her son travel south with the team. After the Wembley game, he withdrew from a scheduled Transatlantic tour, to be with her when she passed away weeks later.

In 1949, Morton were relegated to Division B; but Cowan retained his place in the Scotland team, whilst helping his club bounce straight back to the top flight.

He said at the time: “I was a member of the side that took the club into the lower grade. It is only right that I should be in my usual place when they fight their way back again.”

Jimmy Cowan remained at Cappielow until 1953, making 191 appearances for Morton.

He moved on to Sunderland for an £8,000 fee and spent two years on Wearside before returning home in 1955, making 6 appearances for Third Lanark, the last one in January 1956.

The latter part of his career had been dogged by injuries and he left the game approaching his 30th birthday. Jimmy opened a pub in Greenock, but moving into his 40s, he was in poor health and died at the tragically young age of 42 in June 1968.

The tributes to Jimmy were fulsome in their praise, one describing him as ‘The Prince of Goalkeepers’.

Many who saw him play regarded him as Scotland’s greatest-ever goalkeeper, and he was posthumously inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007.